Halestorm, Hollywood Undead & Fit For A King – Pittsburgh, PA – 7/28/2024

On Sunday evening, as the North Shore was still recovering from the Stadium show featuring Def Leppard, Journey, and Steve Miller the night before, fans lined-up from the Stage AE box office all the way down to Art Rooney Drive and around the bend in anticipation of doors opening at 6pm for the general admission show featuring Halestorm with support from the Hollywood Undead and Fit for a King.

Within minutes, the pit in front of the outdoor stage filled with fans eager to get the best vantage point for the festivities which included a significant mosh pit, as well as steady stream of crowd surfing in the more heavily populated stage left area near merch and concessions.

While I love turning around to catch a great surfing shot or two, I have no interest in worrying if someone is going to kick me in the back of the head while I’m watching the show. So, I was very grateful that we were situated stage right where there were children on top of their parents shoulders. In fact, on little one even made it on stage during the Hollywood Undead’s set.

The first band, Fit for a King offered the kind of punchy grooves that you’d expect from an American metalcore band. Hailing from Dallas, Texas formed, the band formed in 2007 and has gone through quite a few line-up changes since.  The touring band is comprised of vocalist Ryan Kirby, guitarist Daniel Gailey,  bassist Ryan “Tuck” O’Leary, and drummer Trey Celaya.

They quickly won us over with a short eight-song set the kept us engaged the from start to finish as bandmates Tuck and Daniel could literally be seen flying through the air and even whipping guitars around their necks without missing a note. Adding to their momentum, Fit for A King has just premiered a single, which features The Plot In You vocalist Landon Tewers.

Watch the video here for the track “Technium,” which makes a bold statement to how modern technology has shaped our lives (for better and for worse). Considering the recent catastrophy caused by the Crowdsource software updates, it is hard to disagree as they address the negative effects like depression, anxiety, and misinformation (and our inability to revert to simpler times).  We strongly encourage you to check it out, and to arrive early to catch these guys as they warm things up.

As the evening continued, we quickly learned why there were palm trees strategically placed around the stage.  Adding to the atmosphere, a hilarious sign reading “Hotel Kalifornia” adorned with sneakers and brightly decorated trash cans emerged along with the backdrop for the next act, the Hollywood Undead.

The American rap rock band from Los Angeles, is a ‘boy band’ of sorts as the group of multi-talented musicians took to the stage trading off lead vocals and instruments as quickly as they traded off hip-hop hand gestures for metal horns.

Members of the Hollywood Undead identify as the pseudonyms reminiscent of many predecessors in the hip-hop world.  They are J-Dog (Jorel Decker), Funny Man (Dylan Peter Alvarez) who is best known for hyping up the crowd, Johnny 3 Tears (George Ragan), Charlie Scene (Jordon Terrell), and Danny (Danny Rose Murillo), who was a vocalist on American Idol season 9.  Interestingly, J-Dog is the only founding member that remains in the band, nearly two decades since its formation.

Highlights from their set included an anthem to their home entitled “California Dreaming” and “Comin’ in Hot,” which featured some very eager crowd participation from a seven year old in the audience (thankfully that kiddo has no clue what the lyrics are about).

Leaning more towards rock than rap throughout their set, I was totally perplexed when I heard the infamous drum beat that introduces the tongue in cheek favorite “Stand Up and Shout” from the soundtrack of the movie Rockstar…

For those in the know, the song was written by Sammy Hagar and introduced to us by the fictional band Steel Dragon with earth-shattering vocals from Jeff Scott Soto. We never would have anticipated that Funny Man would be bringing a 25 foot (perhaps longer) microphone stand out from backstage as the band asked for some crowd participation. Their set included just one more cover, Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline,” before closing things out strong with their own “Bullet” and “Undead,” which had us raising our hands and dancing along to the beat.

With I Prevail missing from this show, we had hoped we’d get a few surprises, and we weren’t disappointed.  As fans old and new raised their horns in the air and sang along, we were treated to some special moments that included the heartfelt delivery of a homemade rose during “Familiar Taste of Poison;” a full band drum solo (and we though nothing would top the drum solo from Arejay and his Kemikalfire bandmate Taylor Carroll we since June); and a quick birthday song for their new crew member Casey (a Pittsburgh native), before kicking off the sing-along favorite “Here’s to Us.”

While two of my personal favorites “Do Not Disturb” and “I Like It Heavy” have been part of the set list in other cities, we were instead treated to two tour debuts, “Psycho Crazy” and an heart-wrenching acoustic version of “Terrible Things,” which was written during the pandemic lockdown.

And, I should also note that even though Pittsburgh was a departure from the co-headline bill which served as the catalyst and the creative spark for the bands’ collaborative track “Can u see me in the dark?,” Halestorm delivered the new cut for us without Eric joining on vocals earlier in the set.

The band naturally encored, but bid us farewell after closing things out with “The Steeple,” which featured a reprise of “I Miss the Misery” before the band’s final bow that left us wanting much, much more.

As Lzzy Hale pointed out during the show, she is not from Pittsburgh, but she is from Pennsylvania. So naturally, Halestorm made it a point to stop and visit even though their tourmates I Prevail were unable to make this stop with them.  The co-headline tour will continue on through August with additional stops listed below: